Struggling to find C32 AMG's
Discussion
I've pretty much decided that this will be my next car. I'd prefer the estate version but would settle for a saloon.
My budget is fairly limiting, £9k maximum. I've managed to find a few examples. 1 on here, 2 on autotrader and 1 on ebay. They are all high mileage which I am quite happy with.
I realise they are pretty rare but was wondering if anyone could recommend good places to look online and key points to look out for when purchasing.
Any help would be appreciated.
My budget is fairly limiting, £9k maximum. I've managed to find a few examples. 1 on here, 2 on autotrader and 1 on ebay. They are all high mileage which I am quite happy with.
I realise they are pretty rare but was wondering if anyone could recommend good places to look online and key points to look out for when purchasing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi matey
I must prequel this by saying that I am currenlty selling mine at slightly higher than your budget, so I may be biassed, but I will try not to be!!!
These cars are ace - fast as an M3, and practical. Hold out for the Estate - they look waay more covert in my opinion - you will never tire from seeing the look on others faces!
With the above said, I should say that they are expensive cars to maintain, and people may cut corners - try to avoid those ones - stick with ones with a full Merc Service history, or at least a full service history! Also make sure that the extra items have been done (for example the rather expensive spark plug change at circa 60k miles - there are 2 plugs per cylinder, so 12 plugs plus labour hurts!)
They do have electrical niggles - you are unlikely to get one with a Merc warranty for that budget, but if you do - well worth it! I have mad many niggly little faults sorted courtesy of Mercedes Benz!
The heated seat elements go for a past time (mine has just had one fitted under warranty) so check it carefully (both base and back). There is a known issue with one of the bits on the Supercharger (cant remember exactly which bit), not massively expensive to fix, but worth ensuring that it has been done.
Finally, be wary of some of the massively optimistic mpg claims (there is one guy selling his car on this forum claiming 30mpg average! - this is just a lie! The only way his fuel computer makes that average is if it has been fiddled with!) On a flat motorway if you are prepared to go at exactly 70mph with no air con etc, then you will prob get 29mpg. The more realistic overall average is going to be more like 23-24mpg.
There are lots of extras available for the car - try to get one with nav, if only for resale value. It also benefits from an aux in jack in the glove box - whilst it isn't an ipod adapter, you can at least use your ipod. Linguatronic is fun, but a little pointless - best thing about it is impressing your mates!
Good luck with your search - you should be able to find something for your budget!
Hmmm - making me want to keep mine now!!! LOL
JJ
I must prequel this by saying that I am currenlty selling mine at slightly higher than your budget, so I may be biassed, but I will try not to be!!!
These cars are ace - fast as an M3, and practical. Hold out for the Estate - they look waay more covert in my opinion - you will never tire from seeing the look on others faces!
With the above said, I should say that they are expensive cars to maintain, and people may cut corners - try to avoid those ones - stick with ones with a full Merc Service history, or at least a full service history! Also make sure that the extra items have been done (for example the rather expensive spark plug change at circa 60k miles - there are 2 plugs per cylinder, so 12 plugs plus labour hurts!)
They do have electrical niggles - you are unlikely to get one with a Merc warranty for that budget, but if you do - well worth it! I have mad many niggly little faults sorted courtesy of Mercedes Benz!
The heated seat elements go for a past time (mine has just had one fitted under warranty) so check it carefully (both base and back). There is a known issue with one of the bits on the Supercharger (cant remember exactly which bit), not massively expensive to fix, but worth ensuring that it has been done.
Finally, be wary of some of the massively optimistic mpg claims (there is one guy selling his car on this forum claiming 30mpg average! - this is just a lie! The only way his fuel computer makes that average is if it has been fiddled with!) On a flat motorway if you are prepared to go at exactly 70mph with no air con etc, then you will prob get 29mpg. The more realistic overall average is going to be more like 23-24mpg.
There are lots of extras available for the car - try to get one with nav, if only for resale value. It also benefits from an aux in jack in the glove box - whilst it isn't an ipod adapter, you can at least use your ipod. Linguatronic is fun, but a little pointless - best thing about it is impressing your mates!
Good luck with your search - you should be able to find something for your budget!
Hmmm - making me want to keep mine now!!! LOL
JJ
Republik said:
I've pretty much decided that this will be my next car. I'd prefer the estate version but would settle for a saloon.
My budget is fairly limiting, £9k maximum. I've managed to find a few examples. 1 on here, 2 on autotrader and 1 on ebay. They are all high mileage which I am quite happy with.
I realise they are pretty rare but was wondering if anyone could recommend good places to look online and key points to look out for when purchasing.
Any help would be appreciated.
My budget is fairly limiting, £9k maximum. I've managed to find a few examples. 1 on here, 2 on autotrader and 1 on ebay. They are all high mileage which I am quite happy with.
I realise they are pretty rare but was wondering if anyone could recommend good places to look online and key points to look out for when purchasing.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hi
I just got one so there is 1 less on the market. I bought mine on condition and full receipted history. It has duff heated seat bases for which I negotiated a discount as the cost to get them done by Mercedes is stupid. I already have the replacement elements (not sewn in to the leather cover) and will be fitting them soon.
The headrest on the drivers side was working intermittently but is a straight forward fix. As for the supercharger part it is in fact the coolant pump, there is plenty on the internet about this and it is a straight forward job to get an uprated pump fitted. I have to say though my SLK32 has never had this pump done and it is at 81K miles now so it is not like they always fail. Remember the internet is not full of people saying I haven't had an issue it is the people that have and it can seem that any car is dodgy to own.
As for the car not only is it quick
it is also extremely refined and is almost silent at normal speeds. It is a real understated rocket which does not attract the attention of the law or indeed those of a McDonald's car park persuasion.
Just take your time and keep an eye on the web and one will come up.
I just got one so there is 1 less on the market. I bought mine on condition and full receipted history. It has duff heated seat bases for which I negotiated a discount as the cost to get them done by Mercedes is stupid. I already have the replacement elements (not sewn in to the leather cover) and will be fitting them soon.
The headrest on the drivers side was working intermittently but is a straight forward fix. As for the supercharger part it is in fact the coolant pump, there is plenty on the internet about this and it is a straight forward job to get an uprated pump fitted. I have to say though my SLK32 has never had this pump done and it is at 81K miles now so it is not like they always fail. Remember the internet is not full of people saying I haven't had an issue it is the people that have and it can seem that any car is dodgy to own.
As for the car not only is it quick
it is also extremely refined and is almost silent at normal speeds. It is a real understated rocket which does not attract the attention of the law or indeed those of a McDonald's car park persuasion.Just take your time and keep an eye on the web and one will come up.
Republik said:
I'm really grateful for the feedback. I adored the thing when I test drove it a few months back. My preference is for an estate which shall be debadged 
.
One question. Do they only come in black or silver?
Hi matey - nope but those are the most popular colours (mine is silver!) When I bought mine I first looked at a rather ropey one, but it was a nice dark blue!.One question. Do they only come in black or silver?
Slacker - The seat bases are a fairly regular failure by all accounts! A friend of mine has an SL55 with the heated/ ventilated seats, and he has lost both back and base heating! Talk about upset (no warranty!)!
JJ
Black would be my colour of choice, although I saw a silver estate on ebay with anthracite wheels and that looked stunning. I am not overally fussed by the heated seat problem (although it would be nice if they were heated!) I will obviously haggle for a discount if they don't work.
I'm sure I'll be asking more questions as they crop up!
I'm sure I'll be asking more questions as they crop up!
slightly off topic, I was saddened when the boot load cover stopped rising when you open the boot in the e class estate. After finding that to get it working again was £470 I decided I could operate the cover manually. The moral of the story is when things go faulty it is sometimes better to live with the reducing spec!
This one screams scam to me. What do you think? No answer when I called.
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C115920/
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C115920/
Republik said:
This one screams scam to me. What do you think? No answer when I called.
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C115920/
It's not ludicrously cheap, the cheapest dealer car is 7k with 99k. Although, the above car seems fairly well specced with command. It may well be a Cat C/D car, can't imagine you would get much more that 5k if you traded it in.http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C115920/
jjcodex said:
Republik said:
I'm really grateful for the feedback. I adored the thing when I test drove it a few months back. My preference is for an estate which shall be debadged .
One question. Do they only come in black or silver?
Hi matey - nope but those are the most popular colours (mine is silver!) When I bought mine I first looked at a rather ropey one, but it was a nice dark blue!.One question. Do they only come in black or silver?
Slacker - The seat bases are a fairly regular failure by all accounts! A friend of mine has an SL55 with the heated/ ventilated seats, and he has lost both back and base heating! Talk about upset (no warranty!)!
JJ
If it was my SL I would repair them myself. I have had heated seat issues with the SLK32 and years back added a non AMG seat heater to the seat and it has worked ever since. Recently the passenger seat base failed and I did that last night with one of 3 seat pads I ordered which cost a total of £80. The other 2 are for the C32 and will be fitted by the weekend and I intend to publish a guide to doing it.
Any decent upholsterer can add the heat elements to the SL seats. Tell your friend to go that way rather than through a dealer who will rape him for that car. Also if he has lost both the first thing to check is the continuity of the seat heaters as they are fed from a single feed. It could be the heated seat control module.
Bought my C32 Est back in 2006ish with something like 35K on it. Now it's got 80K on it and I still love it. Subtle as heck. Brilliant compremise between practicality and performance.
Used to get serviced by Merc, but moved to an Indy who runs a C32 and C55 has his daily drivers.
I get around 21mpg on my OBC for my daily commute of 40 miles which is a mix of motorway and A roads in traffic. On a motorway run to London (from Cheshire) it managed about 25MPG.
One big gottcha which mine had when I bought it was Intercooler problems, it was leaking coolent from the IC into the inlet manifold. Resulted in a loss of coolant from the header tank. Replaced under warrenty by MB after much agro.
Still don't know what to replace it with...
(Photos as 2006 - and it still looks the same today )
Used to get serviced by Merc, but moved to an Indy who runs a C32 and C55 has his daily drivers.
I get around 21mpg on my OBC for my daily commute of 40 miles which is a mix of motorway and A roads in traffic. On a motorway run to London (from Cheshire) it managed about 25MPG.
One big gottcha which mine had when I bought it was Intercooler problems, it was leaking coolent from the IC into the inlet manifold. Resulted in a loss of coolant from the header tank. Replaced under warrenty by MB after much agro.
Still don't know what to replace it with...
(Photos as 2006 - and it still looks the same today
)Edited by blackscooby on Thursday 22 October 13:51
That is spot on. Great write up too. I'm still on the hunt and have started looking again with a bit more interest. Hopefully as a second car this time.
I found this http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MERC...
I saw it for sale privatly a few weeks back and it looks like this dealer has taken it in part exchange.
On the surface it looks like it needs some TLC. Cat D registered, the front grille has been changed to the CLK style one. The black wheels need replacing with the original AMG ones, that rear spoiler needs removing and replacing with the flat one and the window tints need removing. I could spend another £1000-£1500 putting it right.
Is it worth a punt for that money, how much do you think its worth offering for it?
I found this http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk/www/cars/MERC...
I saw it for sale privatly a few weeks back and it looks like this dealer has taken it in part exchange.
On the surface it looks like it needs some TLC. Cat D registered, the front grille has been changed to the CLK style one. The black wheels need replacing with the original AMG ones, that rear spoiler needs removing and replacing with the flat one and the window tints need removing. I could spend another £1000-£1500 putting it right.
Is it worth a punt for that money, how much do you think its worth offering for it?
I've tried here: http://www.smmtco2.co.uk/co2search2.asp
and here: http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/road-tax/#
with different results.
I'll give the government one a try.
and here: http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/road-tax/#
with different results.
I'll give the government one a try.
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